4 ms·

Is there any reason in particular you're not using existing solutions, like Venmo or Splitwise?

by battani 13y ago

tzs 13y ago
Could some of the multiple people who down voted battani's comment please explain why? For the application in question (settling restaurant bills among a group of friends), Venmo looks ideal. No transaction fees, easy to use and flexible, no exchange rate issues, it's operated by a company that is actually licensed as a money transmitter in every state of the US, and no tax collection or reporting issues.
fragsworth 13y ago
I don't know, those services are probably good, but Bitcoin works perfectly and we don't mind the volatility, and I kind of enjoy it. There are plenty of minor reasons to prefer Bitcoin, like how nobody can prevent you from accessing your funds for something like "suspicious activity". But there are a some bigger reasons - if you're good with your security, you don't have to do things like check another statement every month to see if someone stole your account information.
mike_hearn 13y ago
Venmo is unavailable outside the USA (or at least, it's not available in my area). Splitwise appears to be just a web2.0 accounting type app? I didn't see any mention of actually moving money around. Bitcoin isn't actually that great for splitting bills at the moment because wallets don't have Splitwise type features. But in theory once added it should be quite convenient, assuming you can tolerate the usual Bitcoin downsides. I think you're right that currently there's not a whole lot of incentive for people to use Bitcoin in the USA, especially for local transactions. But the system is still very new. It's hard to know how things will work out in future. All we do know is that the payments market, especially the American payments market, is extremely stagnant. The USA is stuck in a timewarp from most of the worlds perspective despite a proliferation of little startups that try and do something hip with magstripe cards. I mean, this is a country where people still routinely use cheques. So it may well be that Bitcoin, as it matures and adds features, finds a way to be competitive against credit cards, especially now the rules forbidding price differentials are being struck down. The IRS decision is a problem for sure, but it's also specific to one geography. The UK tax authority decided the same thing (Bitcoin is not a currency) and then changed their mind shortly afterwards. Bitcoin quite clearly IS currency by any reasonable definition that doesn't boil down to "a currency is whatever the government says a currency is", and so hopefully at some point the IRS decision would be changed in favour of common sense.

Is there any reason in particular you're not using existing solutions, like Venmo or Splitwise?

by battani 13y ago

Is there any reason in particular you're not using existing solutions, like Venmo or Splitwise?

tzs 13y ago

Could some of the multiple people who down voted battani's comment please explain why? For the application in question (settling restaurant bills among a group of friends), Venmo looks ideal. No transaction fees, easy to use and flexible, no exchange rate issues, it's operated by a company that is actually licensed as a money transmitter in every state of the US, and no tax collection or reporting issues.

fragsworth 13y ago

I don't know, those services are probably good, but Bitcoin works perfectly and we don't mind the volatility, and I kind of enjoy it. There are plenty of minor reasons to prefer Bitcoin, like how nobody can prevent you from accessing your funds for something like "suspicious activity". But there are a some bigger reasons - if you're good with your security, you don't have to do things like check another statement every month to see if someone stole your account information.

mike_hearn 13y ago

Venmo is unavailable outside the USA (or at least, it's not available in my area). Splitwise appears to be just a web2.0 accounting type app? I didn't see any mention of actually moving money around. Bitcoin isn't actually that great for splitting bills at the moment because wallets don't have Splitwise type features. But in theory once added it should be quite convenient, assuming you can tolerate the usual Bitcoin downsides. I think you're right that currently there's not a whole lot of incentive for people to use Bitcoin in the USA, especially for local transactions. But the system is still very new. It's hard to know how things will work out in future. All we do know is that the payments market, especially the American payments market, is extremely stagnant. The USA is stuck in a timewarp from most of the worlds perspective despite a proliferation of little startups that try and do something hip with magstripe cards. I mean, this is a country where people still routinely use cheques. So it may well be that Bitcoin, as it matures and adds features, finds a way to be competitive against credit cards, especially now the rules forbidding price differentials are being struck down. The IRS decision is a problem for sure, but it's also specific to one geography. The UK tax authority decided the same thing (Bitcoin is not a currency) and then changed their mind shortly afterwards. Bitcoin quite clearly IS currency by any reasonable definition that doesn't boil down to "a currency is whatever the government says a currency is", and so hopefully at some point the IRS decision would be changed in favour of common sense.